Here is a little Q&A blog i’ve been working on based on questions I have received from friends and family. I pray that this may give you a little better idea of what your support led to this past year!! THANK YOU SO MUCH for sending me!!
1. What Countries Did you do ministry in exactly? Briefly describe ministry in each country.
Month 1 (July)- Bitola, Macedonia
Taught a beginners English Class and Shared the gospel (one on one) with teenagers/young adults in Bitola, Macedonia alongside the evangelical church of Bitola.
Month 2 (August)-Lezhe, Albania
Pig Farming, cleaning out pig pens every morning, making the feed then feeding the pigs, slaughtering the pigs, mating the pigs. Getting to know and spending time with our head farmer, Ramazan (pictured below in blue shirt). Ramazan is a devout muslim, incredibly hard worker and grew to love us during this month just as we grew to love him! Please pray that his heart would be softened for the gospel as WR teams come in month after month and work alongside him on the pig farm.
Month 3 (September)- Chisinau, Balti and all over Southern Moldova
Unsung Heroes Ministry . We traveled ALL over Moldova to meet with dozens of ministry contacts
. As we met, we encouraged them, prayed for them and briefly served them in any way we could. We also spoke at several churches, and prayed door to door for people in the communities we visited (pictured below).
Month 4 (October)- Draganesti, Romania
Office Assistant to an incredibly talented church planter, Raul Costeo. By serving alongside him in month 4 I learned a ton about leadership and leading humbly. I also had the opportunity to help with an after school kids ministry where we walked to neighborhoods and put on kids programs/bible lessons and prayed together. This month also started my passion for church planting which would snowball in India!
Month 5 (November)-Hyderabad and Nizamabad, India
Trainedfor Squad Leading this month. I also did ministry at a special needs foster home in Hyderabad called “Sarah’s Covenent Homes” and then did village church ministry in Nizamabad where we drove/walked to villages and preached and then did house to house prayer for people in the villages. Halfway through the month, God changed my heart towards India and told me I would be here to serve in a more longterm capacity! (update: Godwilling, Im moving to Hyderabad in January!! Praise the Lord!!…if you are interested in partnering with me financially to send me back to India, I am looking for people willing to donate monthly donations that will keep me on the field for at least 2 years! Please pray about appropriating part of your tithe to send me out in accordance with the Great Commision…if you feel led to partner with me please email me at [email protected] or click the “support me” link on the left hand side of my blog page. Thank you!!!)
Month 6 (December)- Kathmandu, Nepal
Visited refugees in their homes, heard their incredible testimonies and prayed for them (family in picture on left is a Pak*st*ni refugee family that we had the pleasure of spending time with…they showed us pictures of their friends and family being burned alive in Pak*st*n due to their faith in Jesus…they represented the persecuted church in a very tangible and real way to me…life changing!). Also did ministry in Thamel where we encouraged, loved and prayed for prostitutes in Red Light District. Attended/Ran a bible study twice a week for women in a small church about an hour and half bus ride away from the city. Went on prayer walks around Kathmandu with some other missionaries…prayed for the upcoming earthquake (ask me in person about this and I will tell you some CRAZY things that happened through this).
Month 7 (January)-Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Every morning we did Social Work visits in the townships (slums). These often consisted of settling disputes within the households usually dealing with teenage abuse of drugs and alcohol. Then held a VBS every afternoon for the kids in the townships after they got out of school. Every weekend we helped out with a youth group at Lighthouse Family Church, they were AMAZING…these teenagers are so spirit filled and love the Lord SO much!
Month 8 (February)- Manzini, Swaziland
Worked with the Adventures in Missions Base in Manzini where we worked at care points across the city. These care points were designed to help create a safe, educational environment for the thousands of orphans in this country. This is also the month that my mom came to visit for the Parent Vision Trip!
Month 9 (March)-Francistown, Botswana
Taught the most adorable kids ever at a preschool set up by Missionaries that have lived there for almost 20 years. I also got to teach swim lessons to these kiddos!
Month 10 (April)- ByanXongor, Mongolia
Worked at a YWAM Base. Baked for the YWAM coffee shop, volunteered at the local church by cleaning the sanctuary, painting and meeting with the youth group to create an Easter play which was performed for hundreds of people, including many non believers in the town. I also got to go to an extremely small village in the Ghobi Desert (middle of nowhere) to hand out gifts from Operation Christmas Child!
Month 11 (May)- Beijing, China
Worked at a Special Needs Foster Home called New Day. I worked specifically with the missionary kids teaching them how to play the ukulele, doing science experiments with them and tutoring them in homeschool assignments. Also did a fun weekend bible school camp for the some local missionary kids who have never gotten to go to “camp” before!
What has been the most difficult thing about returning to America?
1. English- I was always around at least one other American who spoke english on the race due to the “Buddy System” we strictly kept to but usually it would just be us that were speaking english while everyone else around us spoke in a different language. This meant we learned how to block background noise very well, but being back in America has been super overwhelming because EVERYONE speaks english and its definitely hard to listen to one person when you have to filter out everyone else in the background.
2. Walmart- too overwhelming, too many options, too many angry people. Ive definitely noticed since being back that America is not as friendly of a nation as the other places we’ve been. Strangers just don’t smile/wave back at all! (sad) …lets change this by smiling back at everyone we pass by..WHO’S WITH ME!?! #asmileyerAmerica
3. Jet Lag- Beijing to Seattle is a 12 hour difference. #roughsleeplife
4. I miss my squad. Going from seeing/talking to these people 24/7 for a year and then not has been a lot harder than I thought. I love E squad, they really became like family and I am looking forward to seeing them at searchlight in a couple weeks!
What are some of the miracles you experienced on the race?
One of the greatest things I learned this year is that God heals every single day. When I have a headache now or if one of my squad mates isn’t feeling well I have learned to first go straight to prayer. God loves us so much and when these small illnesses get in the way of ministry or the plan he has laid out for that day, he wants us to take advantage of the spirit he has given us in order to carry out the same miracles he performed while he was on earth. Matthew 28:16-20, Matthew 10 and John 14:12 which says “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” are a few verses in which we see this truth laid out to us. Ive learned to pray against these attacks because it’s obviously the enemies attempt at keeping us from committing 100% to the task ahead. In addition, I did get to witness a bunch of physical and spiritual healings in the locals we encountered as well but I really encourage everyone to go out and take a vision trip to a country where technology/modernity aren’t as prevalent to see for yourself how God reveals himself to people differently than the way he does in America. It’s something you just have to witness first hand!
To give you a small insight into my own experiences though, I will tell you that India is one of these countries. I saw God heal anything from severe migraines in little old ladies we would visit to completely healing cancer in this one man we prayed over in Nizamabad. All of the healings I saw in India, I didn’t see in the moment we prayed. I actually didn’t hear that they were healed until a few days to several weeks after we prayed over them….when they would find us in another village to tell us their testimony or we would hear the praise from a relative. I believe this was intentional because God asks that we ask for his presence at all times and not just when we see results with our own eyes. We should instead act in obedience and on faith knowing the heart of the father and the power he has here on earth. I saw a ton of spiritual healings of people whose hearts were hardened by the world and who would give testimonies of dreams they had where Jesus visited them, and crazy spiritual encounters they would have leading them to find God. While in the village, I also saw a demon cast out of a lady in India… super scary stuff. If there is anything I learned from that, it’s not to mess with Satanic worship or idols, honestly because Satan is batsh** crazy…he doesn’t care about you like God does, but he is manipulative, conniving and an overall jerk. Instead, God has a fatherly love for us that is beyond comparison and is only filled with love! This lady that was possessed was flailing ALL over the place…it literally looked like her back was breaking in a million places and she was screaming some kind of horrific tongue. As we joined the Indian church and prayed peace over her and rebuked the demon inside of her she slowly calmed down and returned to a normal position. The Indians were not phased, this stuff happens all the time to them…me on the other hand I was shaking in my boots haha. Through this though and even more importantly, I saw firsthand that there is no place that God cannot find you and bring you out of, as said in Micah 7:8. “Do not boast over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light!”. We can always be delivered from the depths of despair! Praise The Lord!
Another cool thing was seeing all of the healings happening in China. We worked at a special needs foster home where kids need surgery ALL the time, but every day the foster moms and nurses would pray healing over them and expect big things from God. Of course, he never fails! These children would heal from outrageous physical defects and disabilities. While we were there, a 10 year old girl that was adopted to America received a heart transplant that she DESPERATELY needed for the past 3 years and was sent home just 3 days after her surgery! Her recovery was unprecedented! God loves his children and I will never again underestimate the power of prayer after seeing testimony after testimony of God proving his love and compassion on us through answering the desires of our heart on behalf of one another.
What is one thing you learned about yourself through this experience?
Ill give ya two things…1) I was created to be a missionary and I can’t run away from that calling 2) I have a gift to learn languages pretty easily which is helpful due to the first thing I learned haha
Do you feel any different?
Yes! I definitely do! I feel more mature, I feel more confident in my identify, I feel like I can hear God more easily than when I left and I feel more of a responsibility to do what God asks of me because Ive seen the amazing things he is doing not only in America but also in Europe, Asia and Africa. Also, I lost 23 pounds on the race so I feel lighter in that capacity too haha…but more importantly I feel healthier! We were always walking to ministry, playing soccer or just lifting kids a bazillion times a day so I am more in shape than I was when I left (praise the Lord…college was a dark time when it came to junk food) and since being back to America I have picked up running in order to clear my mind so Ive really loved that as well! Here is a picture of me pre world race and post world race…
What was your favorite country?
- Aesthetically….Macedonia!
- Ministry….Romania!
- Country that felt like Home….India!
What was helpful when you got homesick?
(They are few and far between) But on those days where you just feel crappy , you’re tired, you have a parasite or lice and your sick of kids snotty nose mess being all over you all the time…everyone has their way to “get away”. We can NEVER be alone, so REAL “alone time” is out the window. Some people turned to watching movies, reading or taking naps. I personally found that finding an actual shopping mall and just walking around in it was the best cure for me! Retail Therapy minus the actual purchasing of anything because i’m a broke missionary! haha Best Malls: India, Moldova, South Africa
Would you recommend the World Race to everyone you meet!?!?
NO!
I would not recommend it to everyone. With that said, I KNOW it was the right choice for me and absolutely LOVED my WR experience!
I say if you know where you are suppose to go in regards to being sent out as part of the Great Commission, JUST GO THERE!!! Stop making excuses and follow the path that God has given you.
However, if you aren’t sure. If you haven’t traveled much but are a confident son/daughter of the King and know the Great Commission to be more than a suggestion, if you are seeking adventure, if you want to know what God’s kingdom looks like outside of the US, if you have a desire to do ministry in the poorest most outcast places imaginable and don’t mind being uncomfortable for 11 months straight…yes, I would say DO IT! Don’t think into it too much. It’s not perfect (neither are you btw), you’re not going to LOVE every moment of it…but you will grow, you will survive and you will come out the other side being more in tune with the calling God has placed on your life. (If you’re willing to listen and are humble enough to leave your pride back in America…if you’re not willing to do those two things do yourself and your future squad a favor and chose not to go…instead, find another awesome way to make disciples…there are plenty of wonderful missions opportunities out there!).
Thanks for sticking with me and reading the whole thing (: I hope it was helpful in sharing what your financial contributions and sacrificial prayer this year enabled to happen! As I mentioned about in the section about India…I am looking for some dedicated monthly supporters to join together and send me back to India as a longterm missionary…if you feel led to be one of these people please email me at [email protected] or click on the “support me” tab on the left hand side of this blog. I will be moving to Georgia in September to start my longterm missions training and then if all my support is set, I will fly out with at least 3 other people in January to start my life in India as an AIM Base missionary, church planter and discipler! IM SO EXCITED FOR THIS NEXT ADVENTURE!
